by Cruz, Sofia
"And you know where to look," Jessica's voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Uhuh. Every cities the same, Jessica, the only thing different are the faces."
"Are you out of your mind," Jessica shouted. "There's no way you've had time to get a permit. If a cop catches you with that you'll be facing felony charges. Then you can kiss your license goodbye."
Jessica glared at Melanie. Melanie stared right back, hands in her pockets, looking somewhat bored. "I know. I don't plan on getting caught."
"No one ever does, cher. Get rid of that damn thing, or don't come back to the office. I swear, if you show up with that gun, I'll call the police myself." With that, Jessica stormed out of the alley, heading back towards her office building, straightening her clothes as she went.
Melanie walked out to the edge of the alley, leaned against the corner of the building and pulled out another cigarette. Lighting up, she watched Jessica disappear down the street. She stood there for a few minutes, considering her options. She didn't doubt that Jessica would, indeed, call the police on her. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was almost time for her meeting in David's office. The bodyguards she hired should already be here. Making up her mind, Melanie spotted a large trash container half way down the alley and walked up to it.
She looked around to make sure no one could see her. She reached under her shirt and pulled out the gun. She released the clip and freed the bullet from the chamber, then, using her shirttail, wiped the gun down and tossed it into the trash bin. She picked the extra bullet up off the ground and worked it back into the clip, tucking the clip into her jeans pocket. She may have had to toss the gun, but she'd be damned if she was leaving a loaded weapon laying around for some fool to find. As she passed a community trash can, she palmed the clip out of her pocket and dropped it in. Now she felt naked, already regretting ditching the Glock. As she neared Matthews Enterprises, she admitted to herself that losing the gun wasn't the only thing bothering her. Finally getting a taste of Jessica Matthews, only to have her storm off, was what was really sticking in her craw.
Spotting the drug store she had just bought the cigarettes in, she ducked inside. She really was worn out and needed to get some caffeine into her system. Walking up to the cooler, she snagged a couple bottles of Cherry Coke, paid the clerk, and rushed across the street to the Matthews building. Riding the elevator back up to the top floor, she glanced at her watch again. She was late. Well, at least she'd get to make a grand entrance.
Moments later, she pushed through David Matthews's office door to find all three Matthewss already there, plus her two security pros. Felicia was sitting on the couch, looking incredibly bored. Jessica was standing in the far corner; her arms wrapped around her stomach, looking out the window, her back to the room. Their uncle stood behind his desk, Lisa and Tori, the pros Melanie had called, standing on either side of him.
The two newcomers where both tall and well built. Lisa looked a lot like Melanie. Both women were brunettes, their hair so dark some people thought it was black. Both had brown eyes, but Melanie's had a tinge of green, a genetic gift from her mother. They even looked enough a like in the face, for people to ask if they were related. Tori is a blue-eyed blonde.
Melanie addressed the two bodyguards. "Thanks for coming on such short notice. Have you met everyone yet?"
"David introduced us," Lisa replied.
Jessica had turned around at the sound of Melanie's voice, never once taking her eyes off of her. Melanie stood watching her for a minute, and then deliberately turned her back to Jessica. She set the cokes down on the conference table and made a show of taking off her shirt jacket, folding it over the back of a chair. She turned around and met Jessica's eyes.
Jessica smiled, relieved to see that Melanie had listened to her and gotten rid of the illegal gun. She had panicked when she saw it, afraid that Melanie would get caught with it. Jessica wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even her sister, but the thought of facing this unknown foe, without Melanie, was too upsetting an option to even consider.
Melanie saw the look of relief spread over Jessica's face and made her final decision. Turning her attention back to the bodyguards, she started to speak. "Slight change in plans. Lisa, I'm assigning you to Felicia and Tori, you've got David."
David spoke up just then, "What about Jessica?"
Melanie looked Jessica dead in the eye. "I'm guarding Jessica."
The room was silent for a moment. Melanie watched a small smile spread across Jessica's face, giving her a very triumphant look. Uh, oh. I've got my hands full here, Melanie thought.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Felicia stand up and cross over to her. Leaning in, Felicia whispered in her ear. "Not me, cher?"
Melanie felt the guilt deep in her gut. For a moment she couldn't look at Felicia and then, turning her head, whispered back. "I've already crossed the line where you're concerned, Felicia. Being your bodyguard when we've already slept together is just too much, even for me."
Seeming to be satisfied with that answer, Felicia headed for the door, motioning Lisa to follow her. "I'm heading home, cher. Better hurry if you want to keep up."
Lisa shot Melanie a look as she passed her in a rush to keep Felicia in sight. Melanie chuckled. Lisa was already beginning to realize that she was going to have her hands full. If nothing else, the Matthews sisters were certainly a challenge.
Chapter 4
The meeting had broken up quickly after Felicia and Lisa left. David departed for the meetings he had that afternoon, Tori in tow. Jessica went back to her temporary office she had set up on David's conference table. Melanie hauled out her own laptop, and settled down to run through the IP addresses again. Running out of ideas, she thought she'd take a swing at seeing if any of the fake names might be a real name, twisted around. Or maybe one of these fake names could be the name of a relative of an employee. It was one hell of a long shot, and would take countless hours to sort through, but she was running out of threads to pull.
"Have you had any luck tracing the books," Melanie asked Jessica.
"No. The computer records the initials of the person who makes the entry, but when I questioned the people the computer credits with the altered entries, I get solemn oaths that it wasn't them. Several people have even volunteered for lie detectors. Can you believe that?"
"I've seen enough to believe people are capable of damn near anything."
"Well, it all checks out, so far." Studying Melanie, Jessica felt her curiosity begin to peak. Taking a chance, she decided to find out if she could get Melanie to dish a little.
"So tell me, cher, have you always wanted to be a private investigator?"
Melanie glanced up from her laptop, found Jessica studying her, and gave the woman her full attention. "No. I just kind of fell into it."
"How?"
Here it comes, the inquisition. "I worked part-time as a secretary for this P.I. back home, when I was in school. Eventually, he started teaching me the basics, like how to do background checks, that kind of thing. When I graduated, I realized that I probably wasn't going to find a job in journalism, and I really liked the work I was doing for Ed, so he helped me get my license and hired me on as another investigator."
"You went to college?" Jessica seemed a little surprised that Melanie had a college degree.
Feeling defensive at Jessica's reaction, Melanie's answer was a little sharper than she intended. "What's the matter, Jessica, think I'm too much of a street punk to have earned a Bachelor's?"
Jessica winced, realizing that her question had come off like an insult. "No, Melanie, I don't think you're a punk. I was just surprised, that's all. For some reason, I just pictured you knowing what career you wanted from the word go, and then getting it."
"I did. I just didn't get it, so I found something else. That's life," she said with a shrug.
From the way Melanie said it, Jessica got the impression that Melanie had suffered other disappointments, some of which had really st
ung. She wanted to know more but, not wanting to anger her further, tried to steer things into a safer subject. "A writing major, huh. Did you have a double major?"
"No. What made you think that?"
"Well, you're really good with computers so, I just figured you probably had a double major."
Melanie saw that, while Jessica really was interested, she had carefully worded her answer in an attempt to mollify her. She studied Jessica, unknowingly cocking her head a little as she considered the woman across from her.
Jessica had to smile. The way Melanie was holding her head made her think of Sassy, the golden retriever she and Felicia had when they were little girls.
Melanie finally decided to answer Jessica. "English Writing was my only major. I minored in U.S. History, Computer Science and Art History."
"Wow! I'm impressed, cher. You're a little bit of a book worm, aren't you?"
"I live for books. Books and music. Now how about you show me those computer entries you mentioned a few minutes ago." Melanie was curious about the accounting entries, but she also wanted to steer Jessica away from her personal questions before she started to dig too deep.
##
Hours later, Melanie head the noise associated with a relaxed, mass exiting of people. Quitting time. Seeing that it was five o'clock, she suggested to Jessica that they back up their work and head out. "We can finish this at your house."
"You're coming home with me?"
"Yeah," Melanie said in a kind of exaggerated voice. "What, you think bodyguards clock out at five like everyone else? I hate to break it to you, angel, but it's a 24/7 kind of job," she said with a teasing grin.
Returning the smile, Jessica got up and started gathering their papers. She liked the way Melanie had just called her angel. They had spent the rest of the day going over the accounting logs. It didn't take long before they had eased into a kind of rhythm, and Jessica had found that she really enjoyed working with Melanie. They just kind of clicked. With that thought, Jessica's mind jumped back to this morning and the kisses they had shared. Oh yeah. We click all right.
Melanie saw the cat like smile on Jessica's face and paused in the middle of packing up her laptop. "What's up with you," Melanie asked teasingly.
Jessica's head shot up like a little kid caught sneaking something. "What?"
Melanie laughed at Jessica's "caught with her hand in the cookie jar" behavior. "What's with the feline grin, angel?"
Man, she could really get used to hearing that endearment, Jessica thought. She turned coy though, realizing Melanie was watching her. "No grin, cher, I'm just happy to be heading home. I don't know about you, but I could really use a change of clothes and a glass of wine." That said, Jessica hurried towards the door, before Melanie saw through that too.
Shaking her head in amusement, Melanie gathered up her things and followed Jessica out the door.
##
Jessica had driven Melanie to her apartment to pick up some clothes, since she would be spending the night at Felicia and Jessica's place. Then they headed for the home the sisters shared. The drive there took longer than Melanie expected. When she saw they were well past the city limits, she questioned Jessica as to where, exactly, they were headed. Jessica had just smiled and told her to be patient.
Ten minutes later, Jessica steered the car through an open, wrought iron gate that was covered in crawling vines. Working their way up the drive, Melanie gasped as the house came into view. It held a striking resemblance to Tara, from "Gone With the Wind", only slightly smaller.
"No wonder you and Felicia live together. Each of you could take over a half of the house and never know the other one was home!"
Jessica laughed. She had been worried that Melanie would see the sprawling plantation house and decide she and Felicia were a couple of first class snobs, but Melanie stared at the house in a kind of awed trance, seemingly fascinated with it.
"You like, cher?"
"I love! God, this is the real thing, isn't it?"
"The real what, cher?"
"An honest to God southern plantation."
"Yes, it is. Our family built the place shortly before the Civil War. They grew cotton here back then. You know much about the war?"
"I told you I minored in U.S. History, right? Well, the Civil War was what I focused on. My mother's family hailed from down south. My mom pretty much grew up in Pittsburgh, but she wasn't born there. I'm a first generation Yankee on her side of the family. I was told I'm suppose to have a great-great-great grandfather, or something like that, who fought for the Confederates."
Jessica gave Melanie a look of surprise, and then smiled at her. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, cher."
Now it was Melanie's turn to look a bit shocked. "You know, until this morning, I thought you hated my guts."
Jessica gasped. "God no!" She let out a sigh as it dawned on her just how harsh she had been with Melanie when they first met. "I'm sorry, Melanie. I was upset at the idea that Uncle David hired you because he didn't trust me to handle things. I took it out on you and I shouldn't have. Accept my apology?"
Melanie felt herself relax a little, happy at the turn in Jessica's attitude towards her. "Accepted. Now how about that wine you mentioned?"
Smiling, Jessica reached for Melanie's hand and headed into the house.
##
Felicia watched as Melanie helped Jessica wash the dinner dishes. They had come into the house earlier holding hands. Now they were laughing and joking together. Felicia's eyes narrowed with suspicion. That's fine, she thought. Melanie claimed she was going to bed right after dinner. Ok by me, Felicia thought. She'll go to bed alright, she just won't be falling asleep. Smirking at her own joke, Felicia headed up to her room to set her plan in motion.
##
Melanie helped Jessica put the last of the dishes away, then headed upstairs to turn in for the night. She got a little lost in the maze of hallways and doors, but finally found her room. Walking in, she pushed the door shut behind her and sat down on the edge of the bed. She pulled off her boots, socks and pulled her shirt off. Then she sank back on to the bed, sighing at the feel of the soft mattress giving under her weight. God, but she was tired! Laying there, her mind started to drift back to what had happened in the alley this morning. She felt her body rev up a little at the memory of having Jessica pinned against her, the way her cute little ass felt in the palm of her hand, their tongues warring.
A soft knock at the door had her jumping up. She surprised herself at how quickly she crossed the room to answer the door. She swung it open, finding Felicia leaning against the doorway, her robe hanging open. What was under the robe was Felicia, in a pair of stockings, garter belt and nothing else. Melanie sucked in a breath.
Felicia tapped down her frown, not liking the slight hint of disappointment in Melanie's face when she opened the door. Doesn't matter. In a few more minutes, Melanie won't even remember Jessica's name.
"Evening, cher. Mind if I come in?" But Felicia didn't wait for an answer, and was across the room before she even finished speaking.
Melanie felt a moments' irritation. 'Chill out,' she thought to herself. Felicia doesn't know what happened with Jessica. She has no reason not to assume that I'm sitting up here waiting for her. Now's the time to nip this in the bud, before someone gets hurt.
"Hi, Felicia. Can we talk for a minute?"
"No, cher. Talking is the last thing I have in mine." With that, Felicia let the robe slide down her arms. Then she tossed it at Melanie.
Melanie gulped down a breath, reaching out to catch the robe before it hit her in the face. She started to open her mouth to speak, but before she could form a word, Felicia had her tongue down her throat, her hands roaming all over her body. "Mmmmmmm," was all Melanie could get out. Even that was muffled.
Felicia's hands slipped down Melanie's back, diving right inside her jeans and panties to cup her ass. She started kneading the flesh while she pushed a knee between Melanie's legs, pressing he
r thigh up against Melanie's mound, never breaking the kiss. All thought fled out the door when one of Felicia's fingers pushed between her ass cheeks to brush over her rosebud. She jerked at the touch, which forced her tighter against Felicia's silk covered thigh, her hands automatically reaching up to frame Felicia's face.
'Oh yeah. This is working just fine,' Felicia thought. Without pulling her hands out of Melanie's panties, she slid one around to her pussy. She starting flicking Melanie's clit with one hand, while teasing around her rosebud with the other.
"Shit, Felicia!" Melanie jerked, caught between Felicia's hands.
"Wound a little tight, aren't you, cher? Wet too. You've been waiting for me all day, haven't you, baby?" Not giving Melanie time to answer, she pulled her hands free and pushed Melanie onto the bed. She quickly unsnapped Melanie's jeans and, grabbing the jeans and panties together, yanked them down and off. She leaped on top of Melanie and began to finger fuck her while she sucked on her tongue.